Frank Seravalli

Daily News Staff Writer

Within days of Mike Richards' trade to the Los Angeles Kings, reports surfaced that Chris Pronger will be named the 18th captain in Flyers history.

General manager Paul Holmgren said after the trade that there had been no discussions about the next captain, although he mentioned that Danny Briere, Pronger and Kimmo Timonen have all worn the "C" in other cities. Pronger was a captain in St. Louis and Anaheim, Briere in Buffalo and Timonen in Nashville.

Coach Peter Laviolette was recently asked about the captaincy in a Q&A session with fans that was posted on the team's website.

“At this point we’re not in any rush to name the captain," he said. "Once training camp starts and we get everybody back in here (there’s not a lot of accessibility of the players during the summer). Once everybody gets back in here myself and Paul Holmgren will start having discussions and talk about the options that we have in front of us. Then we start talking to the players. I think we’ll get to that point where we do name a captain, but at this point it’s not on the radar in immediate, near future.”

Asked what qualities he was seeking, Laviolette replied: "I really think that the captain should be somebody who represents the leadership on the team and not a popularity contest, not a point or production thing. It’s somebody who has the makings of captain from what they say, how they act and how they train; their relationship with the coach and the organization.

"I think that through time and what we already know about the players that we have and what we learn about our players coming into the organization, there will be a process we go through where we will name a captain and assistant captain.”

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